Reflections on the 25th anniversary of the individuals with Disabilities Education Act

November 29, 2000, marked the 25th anniversary of the signing into law of t he Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), This seminal law has improved the educational opportunities for students with disabilities in t he United States. In this article we briefly review the IDEA's first 25 yea rs and speculate on the direction the IDEA may take in the future. Our purp ose in this article is to (a) present the litigative and legislative develo pments that led to the passage of IDEA, (b) examine the low itself and the litigation interpreting the IDEA, and (c) discuss the direction that IDEA m ay take over the next 25 years.